Amazon women attacked for defending their land

of Goal

Margoth Escobar

Please add your voice

First Name *

Last Name *

Email Address *

Mobile Phone

Postcode*

Under 18?

Date of Birth

Margoth Escobar’s home was set on fire and destroyed in the fourth attack on Indigenous women in the Ecuadorian Amazon this year. Tell the Ecuadorian authorities to investigate this attack and protect Margoth and her family from further attacks.

Margoth is a member of the Amazon Women collective: a group of mostly Indigenous women who defend the the Ecuadorian Amazon. But on 29 September, Margoth’s home was intentionally set on fire, and despite evidence that the blaze was deliberate, no perpetrators have been identified or held to account.

This isn’t the first attack on the Amazon Women’s collective this year. Salomé Aranda has spoken out about the environmental impacts and sexual abuse cases related to oil exploration in the Villano river basin. Her home was attacked by several people throwing rocks on 13 May 2018, and to date, there is no information about any investigation into the attackers.

Other members of the Amazon Women collective have also been targeted, being threatened at their homes, having rocks thrown at them, and receiving multiple death threats that the authorities have failed to investigate.

These women are risking their own safety to protect their lands, livelihoods, and the precious biodiversity of the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Call on authorities to investigate the attack on Margoth Escobar’s home, keep Margoth and her family safe from further attacks, and recognise the important work of environmental defenders in Ecuador.

I urge you to to implement protection measures to safeguard Margoth Escobar and her family’s personal integrity, in consultation with her and with her consent.

I also urge you to conduct a prompt, thorough and impartial investigation into the fire of Margoth Escobar’s home, considering the possible motivations of the attack in relation to Margoth’s work as a human rights defender, and bringing all those found responsible to justice. I call on you to publicly recognize the valuable and legitimate work of human rights defenders in Ecuador, including of those who defend the land, the territory and the environment.